Tag Archives: History

Recently received books and movies via gifts or personal purchase have been;

Clash of the Titans DVD the 2010 version with Liam Neeson

Blue Planet II a hardback book

Paul O’Grady’s “country life” hardback book

Raising the Dead: The Men Who Created Frankenstein by Andy Dougan (gift from nephew to me)

RHS What Plant Where Encyclopaedia by DK Publishing

Hobgoblins–The Secret Histories by Ari Berk (A gift to my son from his best-friend but I read it first)

The Box-set of The Hunger Games DVDs

All of these came into my house in the month of December 2017.

Other purchases or gifts I feel match fantasy or horror are…

Quite a few different types of gemstones, especially hypersthene, a tigers eye pendulum, a lapis lazuli gemstone for Henry, A black onyx pendulum, a Rhodonite pendulum for my Henry, an apatite, a large rose quartz the size of a small hot crossed bun and last but not least a hematite thumb ring.

I bought incense and a new incense charcoal burner in the shape of a Chinese lotus flower. The scents were vanilla, cinnamon, patchouli, dragon’s blood, rose and lily. I can’t burn these things when Henry is at home; I have to do them when he is at school and open all the windows afterwards because he is prone to headaches.

I was gifted a fairy house garden ornament in the shape of a mushroom at Christmas from my husband Paul and Mrs Tiggy Winkle acting as the old woman in the shoe ornament and a wolf trinket box. I do like weird stuff. He bought me a good sized wooden box too, the shape and style of a pirates treasure chest and it fits all of my gemstones in perfectly with room for half again! It really does look like a real pirate’s chest now with all of those gemstones in it.

I am a big kid, anything remotely regarding fantasy or horror and I like it. Depends what it is however but my house certainly shows what I love in every nook and cranny! I am not averse to having marvels cushion on my sofa for example!

It is difficult when friends and relatives visit because they presume I allow Henry to rule the roost, but the look on their faces when I say “No, it’s for me, I wanted it there”. They do ask occasionally whether or not I should put such things in my bedroom? I can’t put everything there! Besides, what is wrong with a marvel cushion? A soft toy of the joker on my PC desk? 3 snow globes on the bookshelves? Four different types of calendars in the living room, Gothic, minions, marvel, wolves and then there is DC comics in the dining room with an RSPB one. The first of every month is interesting for me, I like guessing which 1 of the many calendars around the house my husband will forget to change! Me and Henry take bets with fruit pastilles!

I love the fact that I can be so free to be more me, with Paul lately. He always wanted me to be me, but I was never confident enough to make it reflect in my home and for the first 5yrs living together it was all cream and browns around the house to make it look more like a normal household – yeurgh. But now it’s green, yellow, with the occasional quirky wallpaper. In the living room on just one wall there is wallpaper that looks like pastel version of the trees depicted in the movie The Lorax. In the bathroom it is mostly white tiled but we are going to buy dolphin and coral wallpaper next month. The kitchen is kitted out with tiles a harlequin would love, also next month we are buying wallpaper for just one side of the kitchen and that will be in the style of Mediterranean food. Our bedroom is royal purple and soon I will be adding cerise to the other side of the wall, I also wanted to get door murals to make the doors of the house look like medieval castle doors!

During the last week of December I have been researching mostly by accident Hob-Goblins and by design Vikings and their respective histories, customs and superstitions around the world.

I have had a Viking story brewing in me for decades but with no firm story grasped and I have had some new ideas regarding this, but because I know very little about Vikings as a collective, I felt that some research was necessary. I found it weird that an idea I had about Odin actually clashed with mythological truth, it must have been something I learned once but had forgotten it. The bit about the 8 legged horse.

As a teenager I ventured into spirituality first by learning about Norse witchcraft, the runes, the drumming, the festivals etc., but I never learned more about the mortal Viking history, like I am doing now. I did know about their war traditions and their units, such as the screeching women and the berserkers through a game I used to play called Rome Total War. Regarding Viking warfare and general ancient warfare, I would fare well in writing about it because of the amount of historical research I’ve done throughout my life regarding the subject as well as coming from a military family background.

By and large though, I know more about Spartan and Roman day to day life than I do the Vikings. Which is why I am disappointed to find that the books I am finding at the library are mostly mythological.

I know it sounds funny to think about it, but I have learned more from watching “The Hairy Bikers” and “Gordon Buchanan’s” ventures in Scandinavia regarding food and dance than anything I’ve learned in books.

In fact, even more laughable is the fact that it is easier to learn more about the superstitions of the Hob-Goblin or Santa Claus than about the ancient Viking people.

There is one thing I have learned though and that is in Viking times it was a derogatory term to be deemed “A Viking” for it literally means “PIRATE”. This was very interesting to learn.

I am learning accidentally about Hob-Goblins because of a book my son was gifted by his friend Alice. This is the fourth calling to learn about Hobs and house folk in the past 18 months, something is pulling me towards them. I have no idea what it could be, I have no idea of any story interest I might have in writing about them… yet. But something is definitely trying to get my attention with this little creature.

I am a very spiritual person, so I believe in little folk like these and recently when I have been reading about them more actively and reading snippets out loud for my son Henry to overhear, I have noticed that the whole house is becoming more accident prone with food and drink and according to legend, this is a sign of a hungry or thirsty and very ignored little house hob.

Funnily enough, along with this, my husband has discovered that his tea is going down faster these days. So now we have started to make an extra cup of tea in the kitchen and it seems to have stopped the accidents and weirdly enough an inch in the cup has gone down!

I have a lot of experience with all kinds of spirits in my life. I have never done drugs and I rarely drink, if there is anything to wander about it is my sanity I suppose – but why do we shrug such things off and think someone nuts when little jewels like this are revealed? Why is it so hard to believe in little fair folk and ghosts but it is fine to believe in God? Really now, what is the difference? Oh and for those hard-core atheists, just remember you can’t see ultra violet light and infrared without technology but it exists doesn’t it? I rest my case.

I was told by a friend recently that my little forays into the spirit realm should be a subject for my blog, because it aligns with fantasy and horror for many people. This is why I am starting to mention such things. It has always been a part of me; I just never put it in the blog.

Hob-goblins in particular have always been something I have been nervous of because of the stories of boggarts and trolls, though trolls are very different to boggarts and hob-goblins. The nervousness stemmed from a horror movie I watched when I was little and it gave me nightmares, but these days I realised the movie was actually a fantasy comedy and I can’t help laughing every time I see it now. “Troll” where I believe the real first Harry Potter came from! A young boy’s sister is kidnapped into fairy world by an evil troll who was formerly a wizard who went bad and got turned into a troll as punishment by his former fiancé – the witch known as Eunice of whom the boy known as Harry Potter befriends in order to save his sister and all his neighbours in their apartment from the evils of the troll unleashing fairyland into the mortal world once again. The movie was made in 1986 and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Obviously also, hob-goblins are found in the wonderful movie “Labyrinth” starring the late David Bowie, one of my most favourite all time fantasy movies where a young girl called Sara makes a wish she will soon regret, regarding her baby brother Toby. The King of Goblin City descends upon her and makes a bargain that she has just 13 hours to find her baby brother in his labyrinth of surprises and dangers or else her baby brother will become a goblin forever! A wonderful story, full of inspiration!

I wonder what my mind will make of these Hob-Goblins someday… I can’t wait to find out!

I have had a passion for vampires since I first watched “The Twins of Evil” when I was six years old and by the time I was nine years of age I wanted to write about them. From the age of eleven I became what I thought was “A Goth”, though not entirely serious, I allowed my mother to dictate to me a lot on how I should portray myself to the world, but in my eye at the time, black slacks and a black polo-neck would suffice for the tag, with black shoes. I wanted to wear black gypsy skirts but my mother insisted that with my size (as I was very overweight when I lived with her) I looked like I was wearing a tent and so, I didn’t have the confidence to wear them.

The passion I have for vampires is so deep, that it is a strong part of who I am. When I haven’t read a book about vampires, researched them or watched a movie with them in it for a while, I start to feel a deep hole inside of me. This hole swallows me up, makes me moody, makes me depressed and ultimately makes me feel alone. Because I am alone, in regards to this passion for vampires, I know nobody who is in regular physical contact with me, who has the same passion. A lot of people I know merely tolerate that this obsession is a part of me.

The people I have who are my friends and are Gothic, weirdly enough do not share the same concept about vampires as I do and nor do they view being Gothic in the same light as me either. Whenever I talk about vampires to another fan of vampires or Gothic culture online, I come up against a brick wall. A wall of which I find sleazy and corny, yet despite saying this, I am not the old school romanticist that I’ve often been accused of being!

In my opinion the last decade of vampire movies has either become too soft that it’s another version of “My Little Pony” or too vicious that it makes me think that the so-called vampires in the movie are just another type of vicious intelligent zombies.

Since I was nine years old, I have been writing an extensive series based on vampires, complete with an encyclopaedia about the mythos. I say series, yet I really mean saga.

There are over 70 stories in this series and I have never once approached a publisher about them and nor do I feel ready. Not with my vampires, I am very protective of my vampires. Yet when I have discussed my stories with close vampire loving online friends and gothic culture dudes and dudettes, I have been told that my ideas are too old fashioned and romantic. That the days of the aristocratic vampires are numbered and this pains me. I have been told that despite the fact I know the market of vampires really well, I have failed to understand how they have evolved within the media and how the new style of vampires are what publishers and producers want more of. So therefore, I feel I would waste mine and the publisher’s time in even approaching them.

I spend two thirds of my serious writing time on my vampires. The rest of my fiction, poetry and songs are left on hold. This is why I sometimes think that I will never get published, because I won’t put my vampires to sleep.

Because I won’t put my vampires to sleep, I neglect my other stories, I neglect this blog, which is why I have made a difficult decision to try and talk about my vampires in new posts in the future, or vampires in general.

If you would like to discuss with me what you like about vampires, or tell me what you expect from vampires, I would like to hear your thoughts.

Procrastination is a part of a creative person’s life; something they get comfortable with and sometimes it seems that procrastination is an essential part of who we are and where we get out ideas from. For me, I am constantly procrastinating; this blog is a fine example because I often do not post a thing for weeks on end!However, as procrastinating I can be, I am always doing what I consider to be “constructive procrastination” because whatever I am doing when it is not writing regularly for my blog, I am in fact, building myself up for other creative activities – usually writing things that aren’t meant for my blog, reading books, researching, filling my mind up with wacky art and images etc.What have I done since the last post on my blog?I’ve started and completed two jigsaw puzzles, one of them was a 1000 piece Ravensburger “Santa Express” Limited Edition 2013, the other was Christmas Quarter 500 piece puzzle, I have since started another one of those Christmas Quarter puzzles, despite it being mid-February. Now this seems like procrastination at its finest, but for me this closes my mind to everyday worries and opens my mind for new ideas – a type of meditation.I have sketched several pieces of clothing that my characters like wearing in a fantasy story that is in planning stage.I have also read two adult sized novels “The Light Fantastic” by Terry Pratchett and “Occupy Me” by Tricia Sullivan, I am a slow reader – an adult novel of approximately 300 pages will take me about five to eight days to complete because my brain insists on showing me everything that’s going on in fine details like a movie.I have also read snippets of other books too, as I am a multi-reader, I can have about twelve books on the go at any one time and not get confused! I have researched the history of the Cathars, Japanese folklore and Hammer movies.I have done one or two pictures from an adult colouring in book, another form of meditation for me.I have sorted out my much overdue papers into organised piles and backed my computer up.I have watched online videos and looked at online images in regards to natural history, local nature, religious history, philosophy, Cosmic Ordering and been a member of some online Goth, geek and fantasy groups at Facebook.I have researched to the best of my ability as to how I can get into comic book writing and how to sell my art.My son has come down sick twice since the last post, so I had to take care of him.I have watched the rugby and I have written the synopses of several stories I am about to write as novels.Actual writing I have accomplished as part of a/or several novels – approximately 800 words – not a lot. But that’s fine when you consider I am actually writing an average of 800 to 3000 words per day, even if it is just a diary entry or my 750 words from 750words.com – I am actually writing a whole lot more than I used to!I am writing in depths about the dreams I have at night. I have been writing down my ideas behind ethical behaviour and the changes that needs to happen to society for a better world. I have written how I feel about my family and circumstances. I have been making business plans and life plans. I have sat down for several hours in the last few weeks with my husband lulling over ideas about our life and even brainstorming my stories with him! I have also helped my son start writing his own stories and he is nearly 6yrs old!A lot of what I am writing is not actually story based or for the blog. I have written several posts since the last time I have posted on this website, but the situation has been that I found it unsuitable for my readers here because I am either ranting about things or I am giving too many of my ideas away.I have written notes on historical facts that I feel will help me with my stories. I am a self-student of the social sciences, since leaving the OU course for social sciences because I couldn’t cope with the demands in math and stats as well as having a teething baby on hand.I have finally decided how one of the novels I am writing is going to end, so now I know this and have written the bullet points; it should be finished by April 20th, and yes, I am going to approach someone with it. The story is a horror with some Japanese folklore element to it, because I have studied the Japanese culture and language a lot in the last eight years as I love their comics and their sense of humour and horror; if and when I get published, I hope this opens a doorway to Japanese media, because I would love to travel to Japan and use the language skills I’ve developed. I should get on quite well in Japan speaking Japanese, as I have learned enough to get me by as someone who speaks the language a little better than the average tourist, though learning their script is near impossible for me at this stage!I have also discovered through an ESA examination that I might have a neurological disorder I should discuss with my doctor, because I have been blacking out, phasing out, getting shaking hands and been getting a lot of problems with my upper body mobility. I have noticed that this is slowing my writing down a lot, because I am making huge errors such as forgetting how to use punctuation – writing different words than I originally wanted to and generally not making much sense at times, so if you come across this, please note it and let me know, thanks!I write descriptions in depth or comedy scenes, but none of this is embodied into a story yet.I don’t know if I am a proper writer and I don’t know if proper writers do exactly what I’ve been doing, but I am curious to find out. Is there more to being a writer than just sitting down writing poems and stories? Do we essentially write mostly about anything but those two main ideas society have about us?I have never joined a writers group so I wouldn’t know. I would like to join my local writers group but the bus time tables make this difficult for me as the classes are twice a month at 7:30pm and the last bus to my village is at 8pm and I can’t walk that far home these days – I can’t drive either and have been advised not to with my medical conditions, such a shame really as I would have enjoyed it.So that’s me since the New Year in a nutshell.

Vlad Dracula III image taken at madam tussauds – not my own photography!

Since the 2nd January I have been slowly reading a history book with a fine comb called “Dracula, Prince of many faces; his life and his times”. I am reading this because I have never sat down at length and read an autobiography of the real legendary hero of Romania outside of short documentaries, articles and mentions in other history books.So, because a lot of the things I knew about Vlad Dracula before I read this book seem to come from so many other sources, I feel that they are perhaps more accurate than this book. I know you probably think I am wrong to state that because the person who wrote the book was a historian, though I dispute it nonetheless; on the ground that according to my research the Florescu family were well known to be enemies of the Dracula’s and this book was no less written by Radu Florescu, possibly a descendant from those enemies.I found the historian to be a sympathiser of the Turks and the Ottoman empire despite his apparent heritage; he also doesn’t view Dracula in the same light as other historians and other sources that I have read and he seems to have altered certain facts of major events within his life to make Dracula come across as an unstable tyrant who was unpopular from the start; quite the contrary to the fact. OK, I grant you it is tyrannical to go around killing people in the manner that he did, but by and large he is a much loved hero in Romanian culture, not something a lot of tyrants can proclaim.So, it makes me wonder, if a lot of Romanians hold Dracula up in a favourable light, whether or not Dracula was as bad as this historian claims he was?Obviously taking his executions into account they were evil and sadistic, but then again the same could be said for a lot of other cultures in the world at those times. He especially learned his techniques in every manner from the decade or so he was held prisoner and educated by the Turks themselves, so, he is as he was nurtured and the Turks certainly did nurture him ultimately for their own gain. They wanted money, horses, food and a certain amount of young boys integrated into the Ottoman empire to form part of their expanding armies as a sort of security against any Wallachian response and allowed Dracula to govern Wallachia for them, something of which didn’t last long once Vlad Dracula established himself back on his home soil; Dracula rightfully denied the payment and tried to juggle diplomacy between the Turks and the Hungarians for a long time, though eventually it was decided that the Turks were taking too much advantage of their supposed alliance and Dracula dealt with them promptly and harshly as would any other good ruler of the times.The attack on German immigrants however, is a new thing that I’ve learned about him from this book. Because it is the first I have heard of these events, I cannot dispute it as a legitimate fact.Many of the things I have learned about Vlad Dracula have made me feel in awe of his cleverness in these very tricky treaties and wars. He was very canny and wasn’t easily duped.His reactions against the Turks taking possession of his land was by poisoning everything valuable such as wells and damaging his own crops and livestock; he also built dams to mire the edges of the Danube to protect his people from the canon fire from the Turks and then ensuring that his own people moved to safer places away from the invaders leading up to the famous “night of attack” was a very admirable feat, and showed how benevolent he was towards his people despite claims from German sources; He was also incredibly lucky, as six years before this event he was in a war where only 8000 Romanian peasants armed with only pitchforks and scythes, ousted 24000 Turkish professional troops, how he mustered that I have no idea, but to me it shows me how great he actually was, I am very taken by the history of this great and unappreciated man!I am not taking for granted that things within this book are fact – due to the other sources I’ve learned from. I cannot vouch for whom or where those other sources came from, but I do know one of them was about the legend of Dracula in both media, fiction and fact in one of Jonathan Ross’s specials where a baroness spoke of how great a hero Vlad Dracula actually was and how rightfully offended she was of various inaccuracies and the fact that this great man was turned into a successful horror story.Some of the events in Draculas life seems more altered in this book than from the other sources too, for example, the incident where he killed a man’s wife and replaced her – from other sources it was said that she didn’t iron his clothes properly and that he was a soldier in Dracula’s army, this book claims he was a normal peasant and his wife got the length of the shirt wrong – so there are some questions about who is right or not.I have no formal qualifications in anything of which I am saying, but I have read a lot and watched a lot of documentaries over the years about this great prince; I am also an amateur genealogist. I like reading books about wars and royal classes from the 11th to the 17th century and all over the world not just limited to Europe. I read and study these independently to assist me to write such things accurately in any fiction I write, I write a lot containing feudalism generally in many of my fantasy works.I also educate myself on all kinds of superstitions around the world and so-called heathen beliefs, to again, make my worlds seem more real. I have studied the social sciences to help me further, though I gave up my undergraduate qualification when I found my illness and having a toddler very difficult to juggle with university studies.By and large I try hard to learn about all things cultural and I think if you are making worlds that aren’t based on Earth or are based on an earlier time on Earth, you need to do the same thing too, otherwise everything will seem unreal to the reader.

Wonderfully written and not very well known, some people mistake this horror classic for being a rip off of “The Black Widow” which is a different story set in a different scene.

I loved everything about this story, the scene that was set, the history, the events, the magic and the demise of the main protagonist.
A great example of a wonderfully vivid and innovative imagination!

Obviously, as the title states, DO NOT read if you are an arachnophobe as there are some pretty gory and detailed scenes in this story.

This is an update on my reading pile which has changed dramatically since I last wrote up the previous update.

I have before, added books I haven’t even opened the pages of yet. But this time around I am only going to add the books which I’ve read at least one page of, then at the end of that list I will write up what I hope to start reading before September 1st 2013.

I have read a wonderful biography of a ladies maid life in service to Lady Nancy Astor, I recommend this as a good read to anyone interested in non-celebrities lives; the book I read was “The Ladies Maid” by Rosina Harrison and I marked it as a five star on Goodreads.com

“The Laws of Manifestation” by David Spangler, I am very interested in the law of attraction and cosmic ordering, but although I’ve read 94 pages of this book so far the idea that they rely on God so much puts me off and makes for an uncomfortable read for me – though the book has opened my mind about relying on relationships to assist my needs. For example, this along with a recommendation by Host Fiona on Jackpotjoy.com I have joined a site called freegle.com where people pass on unwanted things for free, I’ve come across a woman whose giving away 20 saved jam and pickle jars which is useful for our chutney making and we’ve also found several other items we’re interested in there, so, technically, that’s cosmic ordering working for us through the habit of socializing with strangers.

“Sociology; themes and perspectives” by Michael Haralambos, I haven’t moved on from reading this since I last updated it, but at least I’ve read some pages of this book.

I still owe it to my friend Richard Gentle to read the rest of his book “Whatever you think” as well as that, he is doing a talk on the law of attraction and cosmic ordering tonight on an internet radio show, though I need to ask him further details about that.

“Parallel worlds” by Michio Kaku hasn’t been picked up again since either.

“Full Dark, No Stars” hasn’t progressed either, the book is by Stephen King and lately I feel a little too sensitive for horrors outside of the vampire genre (love vampires, always wanted one as a pet to set on my enemies).

“Dragon Chronicles” by Margaret Weis, I would love to further the read but my wrist got sprained and it’s a huge book to hold – a friend suggested a kindle download, but I don’t enjoy reading that way.

“The Goddess Experience” by Gisele Scanlon is a lovely read but I am loathe to reading more of it because of financial troubles and every time I read a page in that book I want to travel to the place of suggestion and buy something, like Paris for macarons and some little shop in South London for bespoke handbags.

“The art of happiness” by the Dalai Lama hasn’t been picked up lately because I am finding it hard to put myself into a relaxing frame of mind to read it lately.

“Lucky” by Alice Sebold is a difficult read, emotionally, so I will try and read it when I can.

“Below Stairs, the kitchen maid’s memoir” by Margaret Powell was an interesting read, but I will re-read the first three pages again soon and make a start on the entire book, but this may be around four weeks’ time as I over loaned too many books at the library again, despite me promising myself I was only going to get out three this time.

Now for the list of (not even opened books) that I plan to read over the summer holidays.

“The dragon sitter” by Josh Lacey, I got this out on Henry’s library card (my 3yr old son).

“Speed reading for dummies” by Richard Sutz, this will be a very worthwhile read because of the amount of books I am backlogged with and it gets worse weekly.

“Hubble Bubble” by Jane Lovering, I think, from what I’ve read at the back that it’s a dystopian comedy about witches, but could be wrong?

“Merry England” by William Harrison Ainsworth, I love books like these so it shouldn’t be long before I pick that up to read.

“Sister Queens; Katherine of Aragon and Juana Queen of Castile” By Julia Fox, again I love historical books like these so I am looking forward to reading this, especially as I am watching a lot of Tudor based programs, documentaries and historical dramas lately.

“The Forbidden” by Frank Tallis, unsure what this is supposed to be about, but the back of the book lured me, especially as it seems someone sold their soul in a way that sounds like they didn’t even know they did it, but again, could be wrong.

“Gothic Art” by Andrew Martindale, again I love books based around Gothic art and architecture, though I dislike the religious connotations in most of it.

“Catch-22” by Joseph Heller, I wrote this book down in my “to research” notebook a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t remember why – so I went online and found out why, it was a comedy war book apparently, I think I may have got the recommendation from “Cult Fiction” I read a couple of months ago, but whether or not this is my type of book I don’t know yet.

“The adventure of English” by Melvyn Bragg, still hasn’t been picked up but I have wanted to read this for almost fifteen years now, maybe I should actually start it within the next six weeks?

“The Castle of Otranto” by Horace Walpole, is another book I am interested in but unsure when I will get around to it, I downloaded it on kindle and I must say it’s a reluctant read because of the format and I can’t find it cheap to buy anywhere and my district libraries don’t have it in storage either.

“Dissolution” by C.J Sansom, the first book in the Shardlake series again it’s historical and I think they’re based around Tudor times again so they’ll certainly put me into my element once I start reading them; I bought the whole series for only £8.70 on eBay second-hand, the cheapest out there, I think the cheapest second-hand was available on Amazon for £27 so that’s a bargain indeed!

“Nutmeg” by Maria Goodin, again I read the first few pages of this story and I was hooked, but I had to put it down because it was only meant to be a taster – I can’t wait to finish this book in particular, I could do with nonsensical comedy.

I really hope the speed-reading book will help me read all these books whilst still maintaining the imagination I have when I read (like a TV screen in my head) but I don’t think it’s designed to do that, rather than to just get the words in your head and your brain slowly processes it all after you’ve read things so you can see it like a TV program later, or have I got the idea of speed-reading all wrong?

Well anyway, at this time I think the laws of manifestation will be completed by Tomorrow night, if not then I will be starting on the dragon-sitter and both books will be likely to be finished by Thursday the latest.

The adventure of English (the biography of a language) by Melvyn Bragg – I haven’t even started this book yet and that’s very bad of me as I always wanted this book and it was given to me as a 16th Christmas present by my cousin Shane that was 14yrs ago. To think I wanted that book so badly and I’ve never even read the introduction, naughty, naughty!

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole – I’ve been reading a lot of historical books lately that focuses on either horror, cult fiction, gothic history and literature and this book crops up several times as a re-commendatory read; so maybe I should pick it up? I downloaded it as it’s completely free on kindle.

Dragon-lance chronicles (books 1 – 3) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (though personally I think it will take me 3 months to read this particular book). – I’ve read 24 pages so far, but it is going to be cast aside a few weeks whilst I read other books; because I am getting into non-fiction history lately as research material for my stories; hence the servant biographies that are appearing.

Nutmeg by Maria Goodin – I did read about 10 pages but then I put it down as it was hilarious but I was already very nearly finished reading some other compelling book – this book made such a good impression on me I sent it back to the library and purchased it on amazon; I did this because I want to take my time reading it and soaking up its fantastical imagery and comedy. I am looking forward to re-reading those 10 pages and reading more at a later date, hopefully before August.

Lucky by Alice Sebold – I’ve read 38 pages so far and I have to admit the author has made me paranoid about making and keeping my hair short these days, though they do say that it’s rare to be raped more than once in a life time!

Parallel worlds by Michio Kaku – I’ve read 293 pages so far, though I’ve been reading this since last year and I am unsure if I will start reading the rest of this for at least another month or two, there’s something about me where I become more scientific in the autumn. Don’t ask why, I don’t know ha-ha.

Whatever you think by Richard Gentle – I personally know the author of this book, I was supposed to of read it about 2 months ago but I got involved in other books, I really owe it to him to read it and give my opinion. I am not a very persistent reader at the best of times and its shockingly rude behavior not to have given a special effort to this book. So far I have read 18% of this kindle book and it was very interesting so there was no reason for me to of put it aside all this time.

The art of happiness by the Dalai Lama – I’ve read 51 pages of this so far and I am looking forward to reading more as it’s really eye opening.

The goddess experience by Gisele Scanlon – I started this book last summer, I’ve read 137 pages so far, a lot of information in it is out of date as some of the recommended stores and websites have closed down which is such a shame.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King – I started this book just after Christmas 2012, I’ve read the first story of this anthology and I’ve read to read more; that’s 156 pages so far. I think the reason why I didn’t continue the anthology was because the first story sent me into a state of shock about how horrific it was.

Just finished reading “The Gothic” by David Punter and Glennis Byron today; it was mostly about Gothic literature as opposed to Gothic history, architecture and fashion like it did portray at the back of the book which I found both disappointing and misleading.

I do like Gothic literature and the Gothic subculture a lot, but I was eager to learn more about Gothic history and architecture and unfortunately this was written in all but twenty pages of the book, so it seemed.

I am on the lookout for more books that concentrates largely on Gothic history and architecture, and doesn’t revert too much on literature; if anybody knows of any good books, please let me know.